BMC Election Results: BJP throws off Shiv Sena shadow in Maharashtra

With the poor results of the Congress and the MNS, it looks like their traditional voters base have turned to the BJP. There is no point in denying that a huge chunk of Raj Thackeray's fan base seem to have cast its vote for BJP, which is a result of MNC chief's inconsistent stand against BJP and his new-found love for Modi.

Election results for the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, Asia's richest civic body, are out, leaving Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis of the BJP in the media spotlight with his party bagging 82 seats, ending a close runner-up to the Shiv Sena's 84. The BJP had 31 in the last council. The Shiv Sena may have won the day but the BJP is the real winner.

The Shiv Sena and the BJP had made the BMC elections a prestige issue. The NDA allies had contested the elections separately, in a fight coloured by random, mutual accusations. Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray had a few day back also said that if required his party can withdraw from the government in the state.

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation has been the Shiv Sena stronghold for nearly 25 years. The battle in Mumbai was for 227 seats of which the Congress came third with a paltry 31 seats, compared to 52 in the last election. Sharad Pawar's NCP settled for 7 while the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena of Raj Thackeray got a mere 6 seats.

While it is true that Shiv Sena's tally gone up by 9 seats from earlier 75 in 2012 BMC polls and the BJP has emerged as the star achiever with taking its tally to 84 from earlier 31, will it be safe to say that Mumbai voters stood behind PM Modi's demonetisation drive despite the hardship of nearly 3 months?

With the poor results of the Congress and the MNS, it looks like their traditional voters base have turned to the BJP. There is no point in denying that a huge chunk of Raj Thackeray's fan base seem to have cast its vote for BJP, which is a result of MNC chief's inconsistent stand against BJP and his new-found love for Modi.

But there are two other important things that worked in favour of the BJP. In 2012, Mumbai's population had crossed 1 crore and the voting that year for BMC polls was 45%. But after 5 years, Mumbai's population has come down to 90 lakh and the reason behind this is that the "Marathi manoos" - Thackeray's vote bank - has shifted base to Mumbai's neighbouring cities Thane and Raigad.

This time a record 55% voting, the highest in 25 years - has been recorded. The new 10% voter base seems to be non-Marathi, which consists of Gujaratis, Jains and Banias. It has played a big role in turning the tide in favour of the BJP.

The other reason being lakhs of names of voters have gone missing from the lists. Shiv Sena has alleged that as much as 12 lakh names were missing from the voters' list. While the actual number can't be that huge, political analysts say that at least 5% voters couldn't vote due to unprecedented chaos in voters' lists preparation.

After riding out demonetisation and a friend-turned-foe, it is time for Fadnavis to go at those laddoos.